LONDON - The British defense industry is anxiously awaiting a government pronouncement on a successor to the Defense Export Services Organisation (DESO), with an announcement possible as early as Dec. 11. Government ministers were understood to be reviewing a proposal early this month that would see a unitary organization replace DESO. The revised structure could be up and running by April of next year, and will likely be part of the government's U.K. Trade and Investment Dept.
RAIDRS 2010: Integral Systems announced the U.S. Air Force has exercised contract options to extend the Rapid Attack Identification Detection Reporting System (RAIDRS) Block 10 program through December 2010. The $29.8 million extension follows approval from Air Force Space Command leadership to move forward with the development of the RB-10 final operational capability system, the company said Dec. 10. A new system, RAIDRS alerts operators of anomalies in satellite communications signals (in the C, Ku, X and UHF frequencies) sent to ground and airborne users.
The South Korean air force says it has a "realistic plan" to introduce fifth-generation fighters in the middle of the next decade under a program called F-XX. The strategy is included in the Defense Reform Plan 2020. The priority will be procurement in the F-15K class until neighboring countries begin acquiring fifth-generation fighters, Chief of Staff Kim Eun-ki said. He stresseed that F-XX will be pursued regardless of the outcome of KFX, the program to develop a home-grown stealth fighter.
Italy's second COSMO-SkyMed dual-use radar satellite reached orbit Dec. 8 after delays due to high-altitude winds and an insulation issue on its Boeing Delta II launch vehicle. Liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base's pad SLC-2W came at 9:31 p.m. EST, and the satellite was deployed about 58 minutes later. Earlier attempts were cancelled when weather balloon data indicated out-of-bounds wind speeds above the pad, and to give crews time to reattach cork insulation to the Delta II (DAILY, Dec. 7).
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - Space shuttle engineers spent Dec. 10 reviewing Atlantis external tank engine cutoff (ECO) sensor troubleshooting options, to solve problems that have postponed the launch of the European Columbus module to January. A tanking test mid- next week, with added instrumentation placed on the vehicle, is the primary option being discussed.
FAST RLVs: Northrop Grumman says it will help the U.S. Air Force develop and demonstrate technologies critical to a future "aircraft-like" reusable launch vehicle under a contract awarded Dec. 4 by the Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio. The 39-month, $5.2 million contract will support the Future Responsive Access to Space Technologies (FAST) program, which is aimed at helping mature the technologies required for quick-response space systems.
NASA has reserved time for a later launch in case it can't meet its Oct. 28, 2008 target date to send the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to the moon. Rick Gilbrech, associate administrator for exploration systems, said Dec. 10 the planned orbiter and its piggyback Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) impactor face "a very challenging schedule." While NASA is sticking to the target date and has "a chance" of launching then, "we've also booked alternate launch dates in November as backup plans."
ARMY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., has been awarded a $38,000,000, a firm-fixed-price contract for H-60 supplies and technical, engineering and logistical support. The work will be performed in Corpus Christi, Texas, and is expected to be completed by April 30, 2008. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One bid was solicited on Nov. 6, 2007, and one bid was received. The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity W58RGZ-08-C-0037.
A Northrop Grumman/EADS North America team says the Dec. 10 flight-test demonstrating dry contact of its new refueling boom with an F-16 receiver aircraft is a step in both delivering its multirole aerial refueler to Australia as well as proving design qualities that will come into play in its bid for a contract with the U.S. Air Force worth up to $40 billion.
U.S. Marine Corps. Col. Kirk Hymes, director of the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons directorate, said that he anticipates that within the first half of 2008, "we may see [a non-lethal Active Denial] system deployed in Iraq."
SAT AGREEMENT: France and Italy will jointly develop and build a dual-use broadband satellite to meet unencrypted defense and government communications needs. The letter of intent signed by the two countries will permit French space agency CNES, which is managing the project with Italian space agency ASI, to kick off the design phase of the project, pending final decisions on project funding.
STOVL SOON: Lockheed Martin's first short-takeoff/vertical-landing (STOVL) F-35 test aircraft, called BF-1, is expected to roll off of the company's Fort Worth, Texas, production line Dec. 18. First flight is set for spring. Meanwhile, AA-1, the first conventional-takeoff-and-landing test aircraft, returned to flight Dec. 7. That aircraft has been on the ground since an in-flight anomaly in May that forced engineers to redesign its electricity distribution system.
Following through on Democratic party desires to rethink the Bush administration's drive to place 10 ballistic missile interceptors and a tracking radar in Poland and the Czech Republic, Congress will likely pass defense policy that cuts into Third Site authorization levels and sets strict requirements for any funds at all.
DEFENSE DRAMA: Takemasa Moriya, a former vice minister in Japan's Defense Ministry, and Motonobu Miyazaki, a former Japanese trading company executive, are being investigated concerning an inappropriate relationship that may have influenced the selection of General Electric's CF6 engine for Japan's CX military transport. GE officials say they are not the target of any Japanese investigation, no employee is accused of wrongdoing, and they are cooperating with Japanese investigators. The other bidders in the three-year competition were Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce.
The French defense ministry has selected the Eurocopter 120 light rotorcraft for its new lead-in helicopter training program. The program is one of several training initiatives that are to be outsourced to a private operator. France previously contracted with EADS to provide lead-in training for air transport pilots, using Grob aircraft. The ministry said the EC120 operator also had been selected, but could not yet be divulged. The number of rotorcraft to be procured will be determined by the operator.
HISTORY LESSONS: Association of the U.S. Army President Gen. Gordon Sullivan (ret.) is calling on Congress and the White House to put their differences aside and pass defense spending legislation, pointing to the months preceding Pearl Harbor as a model for action. During that time, "the president made concessions," Sullivan says. "The service secretaries and service chiefs made adjustments. Congressional leaders found grounds for workable compromises.
Discussion at the Pentagon about the troubled Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) program is now focusing on how much of a fix is needed to ensure software on the first satellite bound for geosynchronous orbit is robust enough to perform to military standards. Some of the code for the early missile warning satellite was improperly timed, raising concern that if an on-orbit emergency occurred the satellite would not go into a "safe mode," which allows ground control to recover command of the satellite and fix the anomaly (DAILY, Oct. 15).
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Dec. 5 -- Institute of Engineering Technologies' "Communicating with UAVs." Savoy Place, London. Call +44 (143) 876-5650 or go to www.theiet.org/events/2007/communicating_uavs.cfm
MRAP SUPPORT: The U.S. Marine Corps has awarded International Military and Government LLC of Warrenville, Ill., a $152 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for sustainment items for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles. The sustainment items will support vehicles in theater or scheduled for deployment. Work will be performed in WestPoint, Miss., and should be completed by Feb. 2008.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is looking for ideas from industry on how to introduce competition into Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) development and operations. Boeing's multi-billion contract as prime integrator for GMD runs out next fall. Since winning the contract, problems with a host of similar contracting arrangements - including the Army's Future Combat Systems, which Boeing leads jointly with SAIC - have raised concerns by some in government over whether too much work and authority is given to a single company through this set up.
Canadian Space Agency (CSA) officials expect a three-month slip in delivery of the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) and Tunable Filter Imager (TFI) for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), after design issues in the state-of-the-art instruments that required them to seek parliamentary authorization to spend more money on the project. Savi Sachdev, CSA's director general of space programs, said Dec. 7 the roughly $100 million project has hit a funding ceiling because detailed design has proved more difficult than anticipated.
Defense policy legislation on its way to enactment seeks to grow the acquisition workforce, rein in contracting, mandate chief management officers at the Pentagon and armed services, and require for the first time that battlefield contractors hired by any federal agency follow orders from military commanders, as well as Defense Department regulations.
